1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to overheated steam ovens and, more particularly, to an overheated steam oven which is designed for home use by simplifying a construction and reducing a size of the overheated steam oven.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, to cook foods, the foods may be roasted by heat, such as in a gas oven, the foods may be steamed by vapor, such as in a steaming vessel, or the foods may be boiled with water, such as in a cooking vessel. Also, there are methods to cook foods using microwaves, far infrared rays, and overheated steam, etc.
Cooking using gas ovens may heat foods relatively evenly, but may also result in a taste of the foods deteriorating due to oxidation upon contact with oxygen in air. Cooking using vapor requires a significant amount of water, and the foods may become insipid due to some of the water being absorbed into the foods during cooking. Cooking using cooking vessels may result in the food being burnt by overly heating a part of the foods. Cooking using microwaves or far infrared rays requires that the foods be rotated due to the fact that the radiating directions of the microwaves or the far infrared rays are fixed. Furthermore, control of a temperature of the foods is difficult, thus the foods may easily dry during cooking.
In summary, to appropriately cook foods, cooking apparatuses must evenly heat foods at suitable temperatures. However, the above-mentioned conventional cooking methods often fail to satisfy cooking conditions in that they are frequently unable to appropriately maintain cooking temperatures.
Cooking using overheated steam is a method in which overheated steam is discharged into a cooking cavity. Since cooking using overheated steam evenly heats foods, the foods may not be partially burnt, and a cooking temperature is easily controlled by controlling a volume of the discharged overheated steam. Also, since oxidation of foods does not occur, cooking using the overheated steam has an advantage in that cooked foods have a better taste.
In conventional cooking apparatuses using the overheated steam, the overheated steam supplied into the cooking cavity accomplishes a cooking operation. The overheated steam is thereafter discharged from the cooking cavity to an outside of the cavity. However, because the overheated steam discharged to the outside has a high temperature, if a user handles the cooking apparatus without caution and care, the overheated steam may burn the user.